Post 1 - Logos/Branding

In a society where we are constantly bombarded by images, visuals have come to play an increasingly important role in persuasion on a number of different levels. Print, television and digital advertisements are used to appeal to the senses of viewers as consumers and to establish a legitimacy and superiority over other brands or products. Logos and branding are especially important as visuals with the power to influence audiences. For example the Macintosh apple has come to represent simplicity and enforces the idea that the company prides itself on hassle-free electronic equipment. Although that isn’t always the case in reality, audiences have come to associate the logo and the message it embodies with the company and thus the company’s hardware and software. On top of the creative and visually appealing nature of everything Mac, the repetition of the logo, the visually similar television commercials with the same simple white backdrop and the same actors portraying Mac and PC and the theme that runs through their print and digital advertising campaign serves to persuade audiences that Macs are so different—and better—from anything else on the market.

On the other hand, because visuals are so important in first impressions, they have the power to turn people away from products or services because of their lack of appeal or inconsistencies in an overall advertising campaign. I previously worked for a company that sold electronics to schools and the website that customers saw was not consistent with our level of service, our catalogue or any other form of advertising that we distributed. While I do not know exactly how much business we lost, I do know that people were skeptical of the website because it did not look legitimate, did not have the company name anywhere in the URL and the logo used on the website was different from what the customers were used to seeing and associating with the company. Visuals automatically force viewers to make assumptions about the company in general and this can either help to establish or damage that company’s credibility.